The invention relates to a construction kit with paving stones made of concrete material, with substantially prismatic shaped stone bodies having the same height and upright side surfaces.
It is known that when paving stones that are assembled in laying packets and are machine laid, these laid stones form through-extending joints in the joint areas of the placed packets. Such joints have an unfavorable effect on the visual appearance of the placed composite of stones.
The problem of the invention is to provide a construction kit of the type specified above which can be assembled with other construction kits to form laid composites with the help of machines, and which permits forming simple continuous or offset joints selectively between adjacent construction kits.
This problem is solved according to the invention by providing a number of paving stones having the same width and the same or different lengths. These paving stones are arranged in rows wherein a number of rows of paving stones arranged next to each other form a rectangular or square packet that can be laid using a machine. The stone bodies have side surfaces which have head pieces. These head pieces are defined by a wavy line along part of their height, and base pieces in sections, comprising domed areas or projections jutting out laterally and transversely beyond the head pieces. These base pieces extend along another part of their height, whereby the laying packets permit the formation of either a line of continuous joints or the formation of substantially meander shaped joints within the placed composite within the region of the end stones of the rows of paving stones. Meander shaped joints are formed by replacing end stones with different lengths from adjacent laying packets that have been moved toward each other. The laying packets as such can be shaped in single pieces due to their prismatic form, and they can be safely picked by machines and laid as a prismatic packet, whereby in the laid condition, it is possible to selectively form lines of continuous, through-extending joints. However, joints offset in the form of a meander can be formed by replacing row end stones with different lengths of adjacent laying packets. These meander-like joints result in a laid composite, which is closed within itself and visually coherent without showing the individual construction kits.
In an advantageous embodiment of the construction kit, the stones have a the head and/or base pieces with broken or rounded corners and/or edges to exclude or minimize the risk of breakage in these regions. This design assures that walking on the laid composite is possible without any obstructions.
It was found that it is advantageous, furthermore, if the top surfaces defining the limitation of the head pieces, which are the treads of the paving stones, are arched outwardly in a curved way. In this way, the paving stones impart the appearance of natural stones, and the laid composite has the visual appearance of some type of natural stone paving. The curves of paving stones with large surface areas, viewed from the top, are kept flatter, and the curves of paving stones having a small surface area viewed from the top, are provided with a more pronounced curvature.
Finally, the outward dome-like projection or attachments are arranged on the base pieces of the stone bodies. These attachments are arranged on the side surfaces of the base pieces with spacings between each other, and wherein the dome-like projections or attachments form support elements for adjacent stone bodies. The outward dome-like projections, or attachments, jointly with outward dome-lie projections or attachments of adjacent stone bodies create intermediate spaces in the joint areas that serve as water passage openings. The sizes of the cross sections of the water passage openings are substantially determined in this connection by the length and width of the domed areas or attachments, as well as by their spacings from each other, and by their number.